The German American Collection, It All Ends in Smithtown

Written on the back, "1956 Mr & Mrs B.C. Oakside Rd. Smithtown." Is this a bit of a let down for the last image of the collection? Yes and no. To recap, a dealer had purchased a large collection of photos at an estate sale, sold some of the best images separately, and then bundled the reminder into groups, put them up on EBay, and this was the only lot that I won. The huge gaps make it impossible to build a true narrative. Still, we can know that this collection had plenty of images from both the United States and Germany. What we can't know is how the two came together. Did a German branch of a family send photos to their American cousins? Was there a move from Germany between the wars or after World War 2, followed by marriage into an American family? In any case, somehow or another, some branch of this family ended up in a post war suburb on Long Island. The good life dreamed of by so many, recorded with this one, very faded color photograph. Click on German American in the labels section to bring the whole lot up. Good, bad, and indifferent images, but worth it.

The German American Collection, The Album 16

This is it for the album, and only one more image from the entire collection to go. As already noted, the front cover of the album is missing and it's impossible to tell, with it's pages bound together with a ribbon, if any pages have been removed. Still, this page does seem like a good ending to me. Germany had just gone through a devastating war, for which it was partly responsible, as well as a period of hyperinflation. Between war deaths, a world wide Spanish flu pandemic which killed even more people, and a collapsed economy, there wasn't much to inspire happiness, but somehow or another, there was fun to be had. Germany, in the twenties, had one of the richest cultural movements in history. The Bauhaus, German expressionism, theater, song, and an incredibly rich cinema. And just a decade or so after these photos were taken, it would all be gone as the madness of Nazism took over. And after that another world war. It's very probable that at lest some of the people in these photos died in the slaughter.

The German American Collection, The Album 15

Business partners who enjoy a good walk in the woods? As good an explanation as any.

The German American Collection, The Album 14

Time to start the final push on the German American collection. No more interruptions! Why is this woman wearing stockings with her swimsuit?

The German American Collection, The Album 13

The last of the formal portraits, this time a group effort. Remember to click on German-American in the labels section to bring up the lot.

The German American Collection, The Album 12

We've all shared the experience. Someone pulls out the guitar, and starts playing. More often than not, they're not very good, but no one is impolite enough to tell him to stop. I'm always amazed that men once wore suits, and women wore dresses to go hiking.

The German American Collection, The Album11

Posing with books was once quite common. When and why did that change?

The German American Collection, The Album 10

Costume party time. I have no idea who the man is supposed to be. It looks like a full length rain slicker. Then again, it might be some sort of wizard's cloak. And the group photo is numbered, but the key is missing.

The German American Collection, The Album 9

Every time I see a photograph of a German child from between the wars, I can't help but wonder what happened to them. And by that, I don't just wonder about whether they survived, or not. If this picture was taken in the early twenties, then this little boy would have been the right age for Hitler Youth and then the army. He would have also been the right age to have made choices, rather than being a blind follower, unaware of any reality beyond National Socialism. Was he enthusiastic? Was he a doubter? Did he resist? Of course, this album was purchased from a dealer in the United States. With any luck, he spent most of his childhood in New York, voted for Franklin Roosevelt, helped liberate Europe, and spent the post war years in a suburb, living a nice middle class life.

The German American Collection, The Album 8

In part 5 there was a dated beer keg, August 5, 1923, and in part 6 there was an older version of the couple pictured in this post. So, what time span can be found in this album? Note the mustache in the first picture. A style that would become popular, in Germany, in the 1930s, but would loose it's appeal in the mid 40s.

The German American Collection, The Album 7

I think they must be bird watchers. Click on German-American in the labels section at the bottom of the post to bring up the whole collection. Too, click on album to bring up a number of other photo albums.

The German American Collection, The Album 6

Pictures of middle class comfort? It seems so, but how was that possible. In the last post from this album, there was a beer keg with a 1923 date. 1923 was right in the middle of the German hyperinflation that nearly destroyed the German economy and helped pave the way for the rise of the Nazi party. Take a look on line, and pictures of people pushing wheelbarrows of cash to buy groceries can be found. Yet, this couple look quite comfortable. In the picture of the man, he's looking through an art book, and in the far background there is a very nice house. Two possibilities come to mind. While most German's lost almost everything, German businessmen who did business with other nations, had foreign currency to spend and grew quite wealthy. And the other possibility? With an exchange rate of billions of marks to the dollar, if this family had an American branch, even a small amount of U.S. currency could have kept these people in comfort.

The German American Collection, The Album 5

It's a wedding. So that's why all these people have gathered together. I do hope people will click on the individual images and bring them up in a bigger window. It will make it easier to see that the man straddling the barrel in the second photo is the accordionist in the first. And since there is a date on the beer keg, August 5, 1923, we can then get a good idea of the wedding's date.

The German American Collection, The Album 4

Trying to duplicate the experience of going through a photo album, on line, really isn't possible, but since this page would have been sideways when opened, that's the way it's posted. This collection is a lot bigger than this album. To see it all, click on German-American in the labels section.

The German American Collection, The Album 3

The idea of English as a national language is only about 100 years old. Much of the upper mid-west was pioneered by immigrants from Germany and the Nordic countries. Many of the small farming communities, not only had German, Swedish or Norwegian as primary languages, but sometimes, the only language. In one town, civic documents might be in German, in another, the schools taught in Swedish, and the street signs could be in Norwegian in a third. So what changed? America's entry into World War 1, viewed by many as an unjustified intrusion into a European war of empire, had to be sold to the general public. Propaganda campaigns that pictured German soldiers as blood crazed animals, who willingly bayoneted woman and children, who raped nuns and burnt churches, helped sell American entry into the conflict, while also bringing into question the patriotism of those who continued to speak languages other than English.

So, how can we tell that a photograph is from Europe when all we have to go on are signs in the background, or written labels that may not be in English? In the case of this album, take a close look at the team photo. There is a badge on the athletes jerseys from Aurich. Aurich is a region and town in Lower Saxony, in Germany. (Click on the image to bring it up in a larger window, to see it better.) Throw in some of the building styles, and a non American military uniform that will be in a future post from this album, and Germany, not Minnesota, is the more probable location.